Getting in touch with your inner shelf
Socrates may not have been an interior design wizard but we bet if he were, he’d tell us, “To know thy shelf is the beginning of wisdom.” And then he’d giggle and prance away, because turning your own quote into a pun has got to get you some high-fives at the local agora.
But he’d also have a point. Kitchen shelving can be tricky business and open shelving, in particular, takes some savvy to pull off.
On the plus side, open shelving lets you show off your collections and objets d’art. It’s cheaper than full-on cabinets, opens things up visually and forces you to keep things neat.
On the other hand, your lessthan-perfect items are on permanent display. Plus, dust and grime can accumulate on anything you don’t use regularly. And, once again, it forces you to keep things neat.
If you’re still committed to open shelving, the website Pinkvilla offers some tips on how to organize your open shelves for form and function.
1. Keep anything that isn’t visually appealing out of sight. Maybe you have closed cabinets in the bottom half of your kitchen — stow any chipped plates or gaudy gifts there.
2. It’s common sense, but keep items you use the most on the lowest shelves, and things you use the least up high. It’ll make day-to-day functioning easier.
3. Keep things cohesive. Try to stick to a limited colour palette and make sure visual styles of items mesh well. If you have the cash and the inclination, you may want to consider buying new sets of glasses and dishes.
4. In general, keep food in enclosed cabinets. All those different labels and containers can be a visual mess, especially if you’re not fastidious about restocking and grouping similar products together. That said, you can fill a set of clear glass containers with bulk items and arrange them together for a minimalist and chic look — think dry pasta, rice, nuts, dried beans and oatmeal.
5. Wooden plates, bowls and cups contrast nicely with materials such as glass and ceramic, and they add some warmth to the space.
6. Keep like things with like. Store cookbooks in one section, coffee and tea supplies in another, and spices in yet another.
7. Try to keep appliances and anything plastic out of sight. Plastic tends to look inexpensive, and appliances have unwieldy cords and veer on the bulky side. Some, though, are designed artfully — those could make the cut.
8. Less is more. Too many things stacked onto shelving will make your kitchen feel cluttered. Plus, with fewer things, it’ll be easier to move everything around for cleaning purposes.